Connor Cochran lied to the public about the lawsuit, documented below.

The Last Unicorn fraud story has a clear right side and wrong side.  In this update, we share yet another reason not to sit on the fence. Please stand with Peter Beagle.

Stand with Peter to reduce harm. Peter isn’t being paid while sales of his work pay for Cochran’s fight. (Peter’s lawyer wants your help to document sales.)

Stand with Peter to stop delaying justice.  Cochran has long used a strategy of blowing smoke, stringing people along, and running out the clock.  If justice can’t be delayed, he misuses courts to make it prohibitively expensive to victims. Professional Litigant is a good term. (See the failed conservatorship case against Peter.)

That misbehavior is part of many legal disputes against him.  Author Jim Hines shared some of them in December 2015:

“This isn’t the first time Cochran has been sued in the publishing world.

February 2010: Baker and Taylor sued Cochran for approximately $6300 for breach of contract. Cochran’s response to this lawsuit is here, and claims he was offered other terms. However, there’s no written documentation of those alternate terms, aside from an email that, to my non-lawyer mind, is in no way a written contract.

August 2011: Sydney Clemens sued Cochran for for the return of $25,000 she invested in Cochran’s company as part of a signed 2009 agreement promising her work would be published within 12 months. Cochran did not publish Clemens’ work within that time frame.

January 2012: Penguin Group sued Cochran for approximately $3400 plus legal fees for unspecified goods from 2009 that were never paid for.”

Those cases were first publicized by Fans Against Fraud in late 2014.  That’s when Cochran posted a defense (PDF): conlanpress.com/fansagainstfraud

Cochran’s defense is gone from the site, but we archived it. He was forced to scrub it from the internet and go silent after his credibility was ruined by a series of false claims. (For example, he falsely accused a former whistleblower employee, Mike, who isn’t involved – and claimed court victory and shutting us down that never happened.) It’s unpleasant to read the whole deceptive thing, but look at this part…

Cochran’s claim about the Penguin lawsuit:

” — $3000+ unpaid bill: Penguin Group (usa) Inc v. Conlan Press Inc . More b.s. Penguin failed to process a credit card payment we made over the phone. Because of the internal confusion (possibly caused by the Random House/Penguin merger) they lost track of our payment attempt, assumed we hadn’t tried, and sued us. We pointed out that we had tendered payment, they said oops and took our company card over the phone (actually processing it this time) and dropped the suit. End of story.”

The truth was shared with Peter Beagle’s lawsuit:

Penguin Group (usa) Inc. v. Conlan Press, Inc., San Mateo Superior Court, case #CLJ511166.  Public records indicate that the plaintiff in that matter obtained a default judgment against Conlan and a writ of execution was issued in the amount of $6001.28. The judgment was finally satisfied in early 2015.

In plain words, it wasn’t paid and dropped.  He lost; they took it from his bank.

Penguin sued someone with so much guilt that he didn’t bother to answer in court.  The court judged against Cochran months before he made the above claims. They didn’t just award the original $3000, they doubled it. He thought nobody would notice and claimed it was paid and dropped. Then on 2/5/15, Cochran’s bank account was levied for $6,001.28. Soon after, he deleted conlanpress.com/fansagainstfraud.

If you find yourself on the fence about sides of the story, please remember the deception you can see here.  There is no credibility for Cochran’s defenses about defrauding Peter Beagle and his fans.   And if you run into his smokescreen again, we recommend to be prepared with info like this: Diversion Tactics used by Highly Manipulative Narcissists and Sociopaths. That’s not an insult, it’s a sincere warning.

Thanks to all who stand with Peter.

Jim Hines shared info publicized here without linking us, avoiding too strong of a stand.  That’s completely understandable. Sharing the info accomplishes our goal and we want nothing more than fairness.  But there soon won’t be any need for delicacy.  After Cochran’s decade of cheating against fans, associates, and ultimately Peter, the chickens are coming home to roost.

Word is getting out about Peter’s recent victory against the conservatorship attempt. Other fans are spreading it much better than we could alone – with hundreds of shares for Drunkinagraveyard.com’s story (thanks for fighting the good fight, Robin.)

That led to an excellent writeup from Scifi4me.com: LAST UNICORN Author Peter S Beagle Mentally OK, Heirs’ Lawyer Quits.  Again it delicately avoids linking to our publication of the court docs, but it recognizes the reason we exist:

an increasingly upset and angry fanbase.

Our greatest hope is that enough fans will stand with Peter so that we can finally end our effort and see justice for all.  Please share with hashtag #TakeBackTheUnicorn.

Fans Against Fraud breaks the news with exclusive court docs. (Don’t forget to contact Peter’s lawyer if you paid for his work during his lawsuit!)

When Peter Beagle sued his ex-manager Connor Cochran, the retaliation was swift. Cochran ganged up with Peter’s kids to make a greedy rights grab. They lied that Peter was senile and misled, and they filed for conservatorship. With slimy doublespeak, they pretended that they would deprive him of rights to “save” him.

Their own lawyer just dumped the case. It’s been ripped up, peed on, and set on fire.  Any credibility that Cochran could ever regain is gone up in smoke. 

Kalisa Beagle’s lawyer filed for relief from the case in Alameda Probate Court. It was her only notable filing since it opened. It includes many emails between the lawyer and Kalisa telling her to drop it because it has NO MERIT. It cites medical evidence that Peter is “fully competent,” with a professional fiduciary already employed to manage his affairs if needed – neutralizing pretense about protecting him. It guarantees that nobody will touch the sleazy case again.

*** HERE are public court docs, sans protected personal info. ***

Just think – any given lawyer has too much integrity to associate with this atrocity. Peter and his fans can thank this lawyer for being honorable and professional – which Peter’s attackers will never be.

What they wanted.

The lies about Peter’s health were severe gaslighting, calculated to control money and remove his right to sue. They would have made Peter go live with distant daughter Kalisa near Santa Cruz, and put his girlfriend out with the trash – his loyal girlfriend of 17 years, since before there was any money. They call her a gold digger because she supports Peter’s independence and stands in the way of Cochran’s total control.

One word for their plan was slavery.  One fan called it a “crime against literature.”  Without this rights grab, Peter would be living in peace, helping to make a movie, and writing as he’s always done.  Peter is sharp as a tack and that’s all he wants.

The failure is important to all victims – NOW is the time to raise the pressure! 

Cochran’s defense rested on those lies. This destroys his credibility for many other fraud allegations against him.  It also impeaches the sad few sycophants, cronies, and deniers who still see no evil about him.

Peter will win his lawsuit. Cochran will lose, but he’s making it as painful and degrading for Peter as he can in the process. It’s needless, abusive, greedy, and tragic. But not hopeless.

If you followed this site since 2014, you saw the steady unravelling of Cochran’s plans.  Every time a victim spoke out, it punched a ray of light through his tapestry of lies.  Now it dangles by a single fraying thread.

That thread is Lack of Public Awareness. YOU, the fans, have the power to speak out until the fraud collapses, so justice will come at last.

7 years and counting of @ConlanPress holding my money hostage. https://t.co/zx7F0Rcf00 #takebacktheunicorn #lastunicorn

— Desmodus (@Diaemus) June 29, 2016

All these allegations mirror my bad experience with @ConlanPress https://t.co/hXtz4PzoMJ #takebacktheunicorn

— Desmodus (@Diaemus) June 29, 2016

Conlan Press has received money for products that were never delivered going back 10+ yrs https://t.co/Jtgi6OUPdl #takebacktheunicorn

— Desmodus (@Diaemus) June 29, 2016

New at Ripoff Report: Conlan Press Extra Deluxe Last Unicorn Book Scam.

Catch-up info for newcomers.

• In the 2000’s, Cochran met Peter as a brilliant but downtrodden creator. Cochran promised to save him, and enticed Peter to entrust his career with him.

• Cochran set up his Conlan Press to sell Peter’s work to fans. Cochran used Peter to seize The Last Unicorn movie from others who didn’t pay him, then took their place. He formed a sham corporation (Avicenna Development) to control Peter’s rights and work. He and Peter are equal shareholders, with all of it’s value coming unequally from Peter while Cochran benefits. Cochran and his wife took their entire living from this.

• In 2014, we exposed Cochran’s ten-year history of “pre selling” goods he would never deliver behind all the hype about “saving” Peter. Our first post prompted investigation into suspicious facts about Avicenna, the sham corporation.

• Peter began asking to see Avicenna’s records for where all the money went. Cochran repeatedly rebuffed him. In 2015, Peter was left with no option except to sue for his rights. The news hit fans by surprise and validated all that we said.

• Peter’s lawsuit was validated by another from the Last Unicorn Tour investors.  They were also refused records of where their money went. Cochran wants to keep their lawsuit nice and quiet.  He won’t say a word about it in public.

• Cochran attacked Peter’s health and retaliated against him in court.  Meanwhile, Peter isn’t getting paid while Cochran sells his work to fund the retaliation.  Many fans don’t know what they pay for – and Cochran wants this nice and quiet too.

Story hits #1 at the 93,000-strong Gamegrumps community on Reddit.

Cochran’s deceptive touring of The Last Unicorn movie without Peter recently earned major attention.  Don’t miss this top-rated witness comment:

“Conlan press has literally stolen money from me and lied about Peter’s condition in an attempt to make him seem senile and provide a convenient excuse for cancelling the tour and signings because he is now at odds with Connor. Meanwhile, Connor’s newsletter announced that they would still be moving forward with discussions to option Last Unicorn for a live-action film and a broadway musical show, likely with Connor signing all the paperwork and leaving Peter entirely in the cold. This man is an absolute snake and he needs to be brought down.” – (DomLite)

Another one: “after the long-running fight with the film’s distributors Cochran was actually using the ‘everything’s cool now’ angle to fuck Beagle over a second time.”

Back to the attack at Peter – more details.

Cochran’s persistent lying makes the story sadly complicated.  He built a fairy tale with “savior” Cochran, “helpless” Peter, and evil forces stopping his angelic service.  In his version, everyone who disputes it is lying and crazy – and he’s the victim.

Attacking and gaslighting has a flip side.  Cochran is sometimes known to lavish “nice guy” manipulation on targets.  This example from June 2016 is a desperately two-faced game to silence complaints and push “dementia” lies about Peter. Which leads to…

Pre-emptive damage control for their failed conservatorship bid.

They’re still not done with prolonging pain and delaying justice.  They’re STILL lying that they have a case, to game their way around it’s public failure:

“June 27, 2016 UPDATE:  Peter’s children have decided to withdraw their conservatorship petition. Here is their public statement on their choice”

It says “choice“, but they didn’t have one.  They were forced to abandon their case for NO MERIT as the court docs show. Be sure to compare the docs against the totally inconsistent lies about Peter’s “health problems” in Cochran’s original press release. The word for it is sociopathic.

Their press release was blasted across social media to attack Peter. Now the court docs show Kalisa begging her lawyer to hide her dirty secrets from social media. How ironic!

The super-defensive timing is full of guilt. They HATE public awareness of the wrongdoing and FEAR our expose (as Kalisa complains in the docs). Kids who care would be happy to know that their father is healthy after all – but their statement just uses Peter as a tool for damage control about themselves.

They blame lack of money. Supposedly, three children together (including Dan Beagle, a business owner) can’t afford a case that was just opened and abandoned with little action – while they press forward on others with Cochran. This ploy highlights the deceptive omission of their lawyer’s advice to drop it.

Then there’s the ploy of attacking Peter’s girlfriend.  It highlights Cochran’s nature of preying on the vulnerable.  He hopes to game the system by emotional damage and outspending a couple he kept poor. Pay close attention to this – Cochran is being an absolute chickenhawk.

Exploiting bigotry and misogyny.

What’s an old jewish man doing with a black woman?  Love should never be questioned like that.  But after failing with attacking Peter’s age and health, Cochran has little left to do but attack Peter’s girlfriend.  His previous court filings use barely-veiled hate speech that literally boils down to calling her a crazy, dirty whore.

Crazy, dirty whore attacks are loaded with coded prejudice when a vulnerable black woman is the target. Cochran filed other docs that attack her sexuality and even her origin in a poor black neighborhood, in ways that would never happen to a rich white person or a man. It’s pure libel without evidence.

Observers without greed and hate can see that Peter loves her and she stands by him.  Their own lawyer advised in the docs: “your father is committed to taking care of Peggy because he wants to and not because she is forcing the issue.”

Dear Kalisa, please stop unreasonably hurting your father.

Isn’t it sad to see a family torn apart this way? Cochran baited the kids with fancy promises of huge deals coming to him, so money might trickle down to them.  Kalisa became his disciple.  She was IP-traced to comments that attack Peter as “paranoid” for asking Cochran to show where the money went. Her petition for conservatorship was suspiciously written with language resembling someone else’s. (Look at docs here for more – their lawyer even addresses Cochran’s manipulation.)

Look at the poor judgement in Kalisa’s attack at Peter’s chosen fiduciary, as if she would be better than a licensed professional.  Her own poor financial management got her sued by The Bank Of America.  They won thousands. (search case CV166651.)

These decisions couldn’t show worse judgement. It threw away money AND relationships. First a father, then a lawyer.

The mind games and legal games are calculated to extract money from an elderly creator against his will.  The damage is beyond money.  Peter has to suffer the emotional pain and grief from having his family torn apart.

Kalisa… it was a sad mistake to choose the wrong side between Peter and Connor.  Please don’t ignore the professional advice of your lawyer.  It was never going to work.  Cochran didn’t care – he doesn’t really care about Peter OR you.

We all make mistakes, but there’s still time to do the right thing in your father’s elder years.  You still have a heart… being a teacher isn’t a heartless profession.  That’s the difference between you and a sociopath who will say or do anything to get what he wants. Please come back to your senses, and join all of us on Peter’s side.

By the way, Kalisa… Peter’s lawyer Kathleen Hunt didn’t “blast” anything over social media.  WE DID.  She has nothing to do with us.  If you try to hide guilty secrets about this, we’re going to find them and we’re going to tell everyone.  We PROMISE.  

We stand with Peter, his true fans, and all victims of fraud.  Our mission and promise: we won’t be silent until fairness is won.

When Peter Beagle sued his ex manager Connor Cochran, many fans were confused. For many years, they were misled to trust that he was in good hands. Cochran used emotional ploys to exploit their trust and take over Peter’s career, with false promises about rescuing him from bad business deals. The truth is that a predator pushed out others to take their place.

Now Cochran is trying to push out Peter himself to profit from his work.  This update brings hindsight to help understand the betrayal.

Good news for Peter, and continuing deception by Cochran and Conlan Press:

Peter just announced a new novel.  A friendly movie producer who had worked on remaking The Last Unicorn commented on the announcement:

“Connor was the reason why I withdrew. Now you see what happened and I am happy to support your case. BTW his claim about ITC is utter nonsense. They are even distancing themselves from him now.” – (Michael)

This is the producer who got Christopher Lee on board for a remake so many years ago – which will never happen because of Cochran’s greedy destruction against Peter’s career and legacy.

Betrayal is the perfect word for Cochran’s sales of Peter’s work to fund legal attacks against him. It’s being hidden so fans won’t know what they’re paying for:

Here I was excited about going to another Last Unicorn movie screening tour, only to find that it's actually hurting Peter Beagle.

— Jesse Alora Lynne (@JesseAlohamora) April 27, 2016

and insteading of sleeping, I'm going to continue to scroll through #TakeBacktheUnicorn. Out of the frying pan and into the fire >.<;;

— Jesse Alora Lynne (@JesseAlohamora) April 27, 2016

Scamming against customers continues in April/May 2016:

• “will the goods ordered during the @LastUnicornTour in March 2015, ever ship?? My emails go unanswered and I’m still waiting” – (@Besweets2u)
• “Ohh I thought those update emails from Conlan Press about why the book I preordered wouldn’t be signed seemed scammy” – (@MlleLorelei)
• “Conlan Press took my money and still has not sent me the book I preordered. I thought it seemed sketchy. Ugh.” – (@EMJacke12)
• “i sent you several mails about my order but got no reply” – (@dofain)
• “Emailing Conlan Press repeatedly and sending their Facebook page messages is getting me nowhere.” – (pavoniata)
• “Is there any way to buy The Last Unicorn without supporting Conlan Press but still support Beagle?” – (Reddit)
• “DO NOT BUY IT FROM CONLAN PRESS. They scum.”  – (@blunderbussed)

@kayebohemier @ConlanPress I also never recieved my TLU BR/DVD. I filed a claim with my bank to reverse the $30 charge you scammed from me.

— Jeff Nixon (@Breeman) May 3, 2016

Hindsight about the betrayal.

Con artists are skilled at manipulating trust. Remember that “normal people don’t act this way“. Let’s go back to when Cochran began with Peter.  This fan report nails it:

“i met this guy in Dallas in 2007 and something felt really skeevy about the whole affair. i tried to ignore it because peter was so happy about having more control over his IP but i did not like cochran or the way he insinuated himself into the Peter S Beagle Phenomenon, casting himself as the white knight. in the newsletters i would read about PSB sleeping at fans’ houses between tour evens and it seemed awfully fucked up, he’s an elderly dude and that can’t be good for him.

a few months after the newsletters stopped, i found out why: it developed into full blown elder abuse and the motherfucker is full-on trying to hipcheck peter s beagle out of his own life and legacy like some self-righteous cuckoo.

good luck, cochran, proving that peter is senile and frail and confused and that’s why you need to be in charge of his finances and work him 14 hours a day doing signings and appearances and make him sleep on fucking couches and take his money–you were trying to take real good care of a helpless oldster. douche.

beagle is sharp as a tack, he’s just very trusting. you told me so yourself in your own goddamn words, saying how naive beagle is about trusting people and letting them control his money and getting ripped off, and how you were here to stop that from ever happening again.

where did that go, cochran?

i remember this vividly, because that was the weekend i got to meet peter s beagle, my fucking fantasy hero since i was a little kid. and some guy, his new business partner. didn’t like that guy. now i know why.”

The betrayal has been building since Cochran met Peter, but the roots are deeper. Let’s go all the way back. Here’s a story from 2006 told by 51-year-old Cochran, who fondly remembers doing petty crime as a 14 year old boy. This is very meaningful.

In his own words, Cochran boasts about “stealing Beagle”.

Stealing Beagle – by Connor Cochran:

“Childhood is not generally known as a time of precise ethical definitions… I was not precisely a shoplifter, then, but more of a shopswapper. A one-boy tribute to the flexibility of personal definitions… I only stole one book in my entire life: the 1969 Ballantine Adult Fantasy paperback edition of The Last Unicorn. And I got caught… The store manager nailed me not four feet past the front door. Nimble of finger? Not so much anymore, apparently. But nimble of tongue? A different story. I spun out a line of bullshit so completely bland and affect-less and perfectly honed that this poor fellow realized that he didn’t have me: I had him. He simply could not prove that the copy of The Last Unicorn in my pocket hadn’t been tucked away there before I even entered his establishment.”

Ewwww... (Actually he stole plenty more – ask cheated fans and publishers who had to sue him.)  There can’t possibly be enough emphasis on this:

“I spun out a line of bullshit so completely bland and affect-less and perfectly honed that this poor fellow realized that he didn’t have me: I had him.”

Notice a pattern? And notice something important missing?  There’s not a shred of empathy about the shopkeeper he ripped off.  Boasting about his cunning tricks to get away with it is glorifying what he did as a young person against an older one. He’s proud of this. (It pales in comparison to seizing an elder’s entire legacy.)

This cracks open the core of Cochran’s personality, showing the missing piece in his brain.  Cold, calculating, sociopathic greed didn’t arrive full blown one day – it bloomed and festered over a lifetime. Cochran took pleasure from this as a child, and it’s what he does now as a 61-year-old scammer.

Of course, he’ll protest that it was a youthful phase and it’s crazy to dig up something so old. But he’s the one who dug it up to brag. So here’s a supporting detail about his own words: Teenaged Connor also earned the name “Talky Li’l Blaggard” from adults he sought to impress. (See this fanzine.)

Cochran never grew out of this. He spent his life practicing scummy manipulation. See extensive evidence on this site that he consistently deflects people with a “bland affectless line of bullshit”. If that doesn’t work, he flips the role of victim and victimized: “he didn’t have me: I had him.” It describes everything he does to excuse petty rip offs against fans, to game the court system, and the diversions and smokescreens against people suing him.

Storytellers have imagination. Teachers have heart. Crafters have skilled hands. Cochran has a lying tongue. Stealing Beagle could be the title of his life’s memoir.

“Saving” Peter.

Cochran began deceiving fans by soliciting donations to Peter (actually to pay Conlan Press, a for-profit BUSINESS solely owned by Cochran).  It was here for many years: http://www.conlanpress.com/youcanhelp.  A 2005 fan notice said:

“I’m a huge Beagle fan, and I certainly want him to receive the recognition and recompense he deserves for his work; still, the page feels manipulative to me, and more like an emotional appeal than a factual discussion.” – (Jed)

Now his page is not only deleted, but caches of it are scrubbed away. It’s interesting how a company supposedly in the business of promotion has intentionally hidden the history of their key work for their sole source of income.

Other pleas spread widely:

• Cochran: “The Problems at Hand, and How You Can Help.” And “if you believe that creators shouldn’t be victimized by big corporations…then please join our cause” (2006)
• Fan: “The email they sent me…. CONLAN PRESS/THE PETER S. BEAGLE SUPPORT FUND” (2006)
• Fan: “THE LAST UNICORN AUTHOR/SCREENWRITER GETTING SCREWED” (2006)
• Fan: “You Can Help Peter S. Beagle!” (2006)
• Cochran: “If people buy a DVD from the Conlan Press site we set up… Peter makes more than half the purchase price” (2007)
• Fan: “Peter S. Beagle Needs Our Help” (2008).

In 2011, the File 770 blog gave background with a hopeful but futile title:  “Peter Beagle Getting Paid”.  It has familiar names: Charles Petit is called Peter’s lawyer (4 years after losing his license for fraud).  Richard Mooney was lawyer to help Cochran get Last Unicorn movie rights – he now represents Cochran to attack Peter.

Sympathy ploys didn’t work on everyone. This fan had a crystal ball in 2006:

“I’m pretty convinced that Connor Cochran is a fake. Why would Peter Beagle’s business manager be posting on a random fansite like this? Why can’t Beagle speak for himself? Why is it continually, ‘Peter says this,’ ‘Peter likes this’? The guy is a con artist… He asks for donations to help Beagle, but the mailing address and Paypal account both go to him. Why isn’t the money going directly to Beagle? I wouldn’t believe a word he says”. – (Leah)

It’s very important to remember that spreading the sympathy ploy was Connor Cochran’s only income. Every time he claims credit for Peter’s career and boasts of some accomplishment… remember that he positioned himself on the receiving end.  Any benefit to Peter only trickled down with little to no accountability.  There was nothing but Peter’s work funding his own living, house and vacations and dinners and shmoozing with Hollywood producers.  While “professional ethics” and “conflict of interest” are indispensable concepts to anyone else managing careers… to Cochran, they’re lip service.

At least previous business cheating was only about money, not something worse.

Then there’s trying to skin someone and wear it for an ego trip.  But most people won’t believe what a predatory sociopath is capable of (that’s how they get away with it.) One fan’s comment:

“they typically are HARDWIRED in the head for it. Most Con-Artists (let’s call a spade a spade here…) are Personality Disordered, typically Narcissistic or Borderline Personality disordered. BPD’s are harder than hell to spot unless you’re in very close personal contact with them regularly. They’re an ugly core of a person with multiple facades of a person not quite like but very, very reminiesent of Sybil in nature.” – (Frank)

We were sent a 2005 interview with Cochran (see near bottom.)  It shows why he’s described as having a raging case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.  He boasts of impossible publishing promises:

“I am also having a great time now with the business that I’ve been building since 2001. Within a year we’ll have published at least a dozen books and a half-dozen audiobooks; released three or four CDs; put out prints and posters from multiple artists; and moved a half dozen film stories closer to actual production.”

That never happened. 12 years later, tens of thousands of dollars worth of audiobook sales from that time were never delivered, and the hardcover of TWO HEARTS is never produced.  Compare his failure to finish the first thing he started to this crack-smoking ego masturbation:

“The majority of my waking time – and since I only sleep about five hours a night, that’s a lot – is devoted to building the company. The structure is simple. There is a central holding corporation called CCI, for Connor Cochran, Inc. I am chairman, president, secretary and treasurer. CCI operates sub-divisions which deal in specific tasks and/or media: Conlan Press is the book and audiobook publishing division, ACE-Kobata Music handles live performances and recordings, Changeling Films is the cinema division, Silver City Graphics & Fine Arts does prints and posters and anything purely visual. Church of Superdog is the artist management group, etc. There are at least 20 such divisions already launched or on the planning board. Each has someone {or several someones} who is actually in charge of the local turf, while I kibitz at will and keep the whole multi-division machine spinning together productively… Conlan is the first division to go public, via the conlan press website. Our initial release is an unabridged audiobook of Peter S. Beagle’s THE LAST UNICORN, which we are promoting by also putting out a limited edition hardcover of “Two Hearts”… CCI may never wind up going toe-to-toe with Disney or Sony or Universal someday, but we’ll make a good run at it, and have a lot of fun in the attempt. The art of business, the business of art, and a chance to change the world… Who could say no?”

It’s interesting how “Changing the world” came to mean ripping off elderly writers, and trying to sue their girlfriends and forcibly put them under control when they finally say “NO”.  And this judgement of him is the final word:

“Connor has consistently defrauded people, lied about it, and generally shown all the characteristics of an advanced example of Narcissistic Personality Disorder…” – (Deb)

True fans of Peter, please pay careful attention to what he’s fighting.  Support the right side and share the truth.

• Don’t miss our recent update on Cochran’s motive for fraud.

On Peter’s birthday (April 20), The Last Unicorn facebook page was silent.  So were other social media false-fronts run by Connor Cochran and Conlan Press. Now their main concern is extracting money from fans to pay for legal battle against Peter.

Not all was silent with Peter.  For his birthday, his fans got the present.

Now fans can follow him at The REAL Peter S. Beagle facebook page, where his exploiters have no access.

Peter got a birthday post from Tachyon, an honest publisher who’s actively supporting Peter’s career. He did a reading in San Francisco and got dinner with fans (hi Ted!) And Balticon 50 announced Peter as their guest of honor.

That’s hardly the life of a man too feeble to manage without forcible control.

The world is a better place because Connor Cochran won’t be allowed to use these activities for his predation. It’s driving him to spread desperate, self-serving phone messages to plead that Peter NEEDS conservatorship… because otherwise Cochran’s movie deals will suffer. He’s all about the money.

• Shout out to fan sharing: Peter S. Beagle and his Fight to Take Back the Unicorn.
• See with disgust how Cochran’s toadies are still spreading denial.
• In Tucson AZ, Conlan Press is milking new Last Unicorn movie screenings to fund the battle against Peter.  Peter remains unpaid for all the sales they’re doing in his name.

Mystery of The Magical Disappearing Comments.

Comment on the Tucson screening announcement and watch it disappear. Alakazam!  On 4/27, there’s 54 comments shown but 76 listed (replies don’t count). That’s a lot of hidden comments. (You may need to log out to see filtering of ones you leave.)  

Now let’s have a deeper look at the turmoil behind Cochran’s social media false-fronts, and the deception he’s doing to roll back awareness.

While Cochran exploits fans to keep buying what he sells, he doesn’t want you to know about the fight to #TakeBackTheUnicorn. He sees a storm of protest brewing and he’s battening down the hatches.

Massive deletion is happening to fan discussion about the fraud and lawsuits. We have screenshots of deleted posts with hundreds of comments. Let’s dig up what Cochran and his cronies want to bury.

GONE: Fan posting ability to The Last Unicorn page on Facebook!

• 190,000 page followers used to post daily to the Last Unicorn page.  No more… and their previous posts are all gone.  Meanwhile, on the Peter Beagle Facebook page run by Cochran, thousands of followers are under tight control of info.
• Andrea says:

ENTIRE REVIEW SECTION DELETED from the Conlan Press Facebook page!

• In late March 2016, Cochran deleted the “reviews” section from the Conlan Press Facebook page after a streak of 1-star reviews from customers who never got what they paid for.
• Here’s a screenshot of Google’s cache made in January before further 1-stars (with lonely 5-stars from his own employees).  On April 13 we linked the cache and the next week it’s gone too.

EVASIVE MANEUVERS! Spambots suppress Twitter search results:

• This is new.  The tweets are consecutive, and they aren’t single instances.  Numerous accounts are repeating the SAME tweet DAILY.
• They’re spambot accounts all linked to each other, populated entirely with generic quotes and sayings.  It’s a commercial service.
• Some services build bot accounts to sell you a pile of new “friends”.  Others like Reputation.com manage PR, like suppressing search results to help cowardly con artists hide what they do. It wouldn’t be cheap to use Conlan Press funds this way.

ATTACK AGAINST PETER by the Last Unicorn Facebook page!

• 190,000 followers were treated to Cochran’s sympathy-begging statement about manipulating Peter’s children against him.  It was his official side linked right to Conlan Press.  (That post is now deleted too.)
• At the same time, the page declared itself a “neutral zone” (that would not post Peter’s side).
• When repeatedly asked, the page manager conveniently forgot who owns the page (refusing to name Cochran) while claiming to be run by “a fan.”  However, Reece Mack posted the professional position to his LinkedIn resume in September 2015.  (That was when Peter hired a fiduciary; so Cochran got a crisis manager.) The sudden, transparently phony coyness and evasion about the PR coincided with Peter’s injunction against Cochran.
• Jay reacts:

Deleted comments and evasion:

Sudden serious memory problems… maybe a conservator is needed!

The selling must continue… but if you don’t get what you ordered, they have nothing to do with it.

Cheated customers keep getting the runaround…

@ConlanPress hey, i sent you several mails about my order but got no reply

— Dofain (@dofain) April 13, 2016

@ConlanPress Comment on the lawsuit: I (+ others) never received TLU DVDs from you. You're def a scam artist that I wasted $10+S&H on.

— Kaye Bohémier (@kayebohemier) April 4, 2016

A message to the crisis manager:

When the Last Unicorn Facebook page says it’s run by “just a fan”, and refuses to name the owner, it implies being unaffiliated.

Do you get that little nagging feeling that you’re expected to say something that isn’t true?  Does your skin crawl a little about deflecting fans this way?  Admit it… doesn’t it feel a little weird and wrong, deep down inside?

Why ignore your conscience?

(EDIT: we’re told that previous crisis manager Reece Mack has stepped down. If that’s even true.  Reece: get distance from this, and best luck.)

Fans should expect much more of the smoke and mirrors to delay justice.  But the overwhelming evidence shows that Cochran is guilty of cheating many people besides Peter Beagle.  That’s why Peter will win.  Please help him, and share the story using these hashtags. #TakeBackTheUnicorn – #LastUnicorn

Why – The short answer is $$$, and the long answer is about covering up.  Cochran is desperate to deflect notice towards Peter’s supposed “health problems” – and away from his own history of predatory business scamming.

“Cochran induced Beagle to transfer his intellectual property rights to a sham corporation, appropriating this property with intent to defraud Beagle.” – (Peter’s lawsuit p. 5)

Avicenna was the sham corporation formed in 2008 by Cochran (with his disgraced ex lawyer friend.) It was supposedly made for Peter Beagle to share ownership 50/50. The other 50% was Cochran’s, with Conlan Press doing all the public business (and cheating so many fans). He promised to bring in multiple authors, but Beagle’s work remains the entire source of value – and Cochran refuses to account for the money.

This reader lays it out point by point:

“Connor’s arguments about people preying on Peter – mostly directed at Peter’s girlfriend – all circle back to his assertion of Peter’s lawsuit being the only reason the movie deal didn’t work out (and Connor is also blaming Peter’s withdrawal from having anything to do with Conlan/Avicenna as the reason other book projects have not yet gone to press. Conlan’s projects are FOREVER “…about to go to press.”) There’s NO OTHER WAY to show harm. And every time Connor has to argue about Peter’s mental capacity, he rolls out the same story about Peter demanding Connor give him his mother’s ashes, which Connor says he already had – whereas MANY people can counter Connor’s claims by relating examples of having perfectly lucid and lengthy conversations with Peter.

And Connor’s only real argument for “helping” Peter – the argument that the negative influence of others that is causing Peter to make harmful or bad decisions – has to do with the lawsuit, and loss of the Japanese investor interest in the potential movie [1] – because what other benefit does Peter gain by associating with Conlan/Avicenna/Connor otherwise? Conlan is a Beagle signature factory that hasn’t published anything, and everything they DO sell is published by other companies; the film tour investors are suing Connor for not paying them or even accounting for the money; Connor lost another lawsuit for taking money from a teacher who wanted to be an author by promising to use the money to publish her books, and never did [2]; and there are thousands of fans and volunteers who never get things they paid for. [3]

And, if ANYTHING Connor claims about Peter’s health is true, then the days of endlessly signing books and doing movie roadshows should be over. So what value is there in enlisting the kids to gain conservatorship? Simple: Connor gains control over the part of Avicenna – and the rights to ALL of Peter’s work – that Peter can and is contesting [4]. And Connor can then dangle the unlikely prospect of millions of dollars pouring in from film investors in front of Peter’s heirs. That’s the only reason, because IF their claims about Peter were true, he should not continue working at even close to the pace Connor had been working him before.”

“If their claims are NOT true, then why try to make such a claim? Because otherwise, Peter IS in his right mind, and is justified in separating himself from a business that is both built entirely on his work and reputation, while being managed so poorly it is destroying both. If Peter prevails, Connor would have to make a full accounting to EVERYONE about all of the money: to the fans, about the sales of books that have not shipped, and of books that have not even been PRODUCED yet, in some cases, for more than a decade now;  to the tour volunteers, who were promised gifts that have never been sent; to investors in the tour, who were offered impossible returns, and yet have not received one penny in repayment or a single accounting of how the money was spent; and to Peter, whose work provides Connor’s SOLE INCOME, and which has allowed Connor to live in million-dollar homes while the creator of the work itself lived in apartments.” [5]

Connor’s full time occupation is running Conlan Press… the money Peter’s work generated has been his own sole income.

“If nothing else, if NOTHING else, Peter should be receiving money from the sales of the ebooks – which were launched en masse AFTER the lawsuit was filed – and the sales of the books that have happened since, plus a portion of the money from the screenings of the film – which continue without his involvement. But Connor/Conlan/Avicenna refuses to give any accounting, much less any payment [6], and Peter is having to rely on being paid by other editors and publishers who will work with him directly for new work [7]. It’s only speculation to assume that the argument would be that Conlan and/or Avicenna owns the rights, and thus owes no accounting or payout to Peter under whatever contractual terms Connor talked him into – but as Conlan Press and Avicenna are built IN THEIR ENTIRETY on the work of Peter Beagle, then any money came to those entities FROM the work of Peter Beagle, so it’s easy to see who benefits most from maintaining the status quo. And as Connor’s full time occupation is running Conlan Press, if he is withholding anything from Peter because those entities control the rights, then he’s only been able to do so because of the money Peter’s work generated, which has been his own sole income.

This whole conflict has NOTHING to do with Peter’s health – which Connor claims has been a problem for a LONG time but which somehow never stopped him from touring with Peter and taking him to conventions – and EVERYTHING to do with the shoddy way that Connor has run Conlan Press. Period.”

We spoke further with this reader. They reported that there are many people who have closely observed Cochran, who until recently steered clear of speaking because of retaliation against anyone who does. We’re happy to share those secrets here. And the public discourse about this scandal is now refocusing away from Peter’s health – Cochran’s primary diversion tactic – and back towards this fact:

“he is a terrible and unethical businessman who uses everyone around him.”

About his conduct towards Peter:

“…underhanded and despicable.  And then seeing things like that teacher who sued him – he never intended to use her money to publish her books – convinced me that it was all a massive house of cards.  And her win against him should be what the Sandbox people focus on, because he scammed then in the exact same way: offer grandiose returns on a debt that he does no accounting for. Because he never planned to pay a penny.”

The kids’ position is also clear from a comment Kalisa made on one of those other stories, about how Peter signing 5000 apology notes was a part of his contract. They have clearly bought into Connor’s savior angle, and don’t see the thing Peter was signing apology notes for was another one of Connor’s failed schemes.

Please keep doing what you’re doing.  Peter deserves far better than to have his life destroyed by someone like Connor Cochran.”

And the reader followed up:

“Where order fulfillment is concerned, there has long been a pattern of confusion and apparent forgetfulness on Connor’s part. Many, many people can testify to having had Connor promise something will be delivered, only to never have it happen. Perhaps this is indicative of a greater memory problem – in which case maybe someone claiming to have only his best interests at heart should legally file for conservatorship over him and his business dealings.”

“… and let’s say somehow Connor and Peter’s children’s effort to gain conservatorship over Peter is successful. How does that change ANYTHING with regards to how Conlan Press has been run? Connor has stated over and over again that it’s Peter’s health that has necessitated halting his participation in the film tour…so if Peter really is struggling with health and/or memory issues that will prevent him from being as involved in the sales operations as he had been, then what does the conservatorship do for ANYONE other than removing the right of a partner – Peter – to sue the other?  Conlan will continue selling things they can’t be bothered to deliver; they’ll still be sued by Sandbox for not repaying the tour investment; and Connor may think he can go do a new movie deal without Peter – but investors will be aware that he only got control of the rights by forcibly taking them away from a beloved creator.”

[1]  Reader misspoke about “Japanese” investors (meaning Chinese) for a new live-action movie.  See below screenshots of Cochran’s claims on 12/10/15. They are full of defamation against Peter and incredible distortions:

• Cochran was sued by his investors after making the comments – guess how likely it is to restart a deal.
• Cochran pretends he meant to make Peter “co-owner” of the movie.  But his manipulative comments to this reader put it far into the future of an elderly man… and a decade wait for products he sold still hasn’t produced them.
• He denies there is benefit from false claims about Peter’s health – read it above.
• He claims a lawyer who knew Peter dismissed his claims, which indicates Richard Mooney. He served Cochran to take over the movie rights and now represents Cochran as a very self-interested crony in attacking Peter.

[2] Cochran was sued for taking $25,000 from an elderly teacher, and breaking their contract to publish her book.  Cochran’s defense is accurately described as gaming the system.  Rather than settling as a sane person would, Cochran dragged her through the mud with a frivolous countersuit.  She won an arbitration judgement (the only judgement in the case).  That should be that, but not for a frivolous litigant.  Cochran gamed the system by paying taxes to re-open a suspended corporation, only to get a new trial under corporate veil. It was a flimsy defense that ran up costs without chance for him to win, simply to make her cut losses.  It’s likely the only time his suspended corporation paid taxes was to block justice for victims.  It could not save him from losing another lawsuit in 2015 (search case 511166.)

[3] Here and here are volunteer reports.  Products sold and not delivered since 2005 include audiobook CD’s and ‘Two Hearts”, “Extra Deluxe” Last Unicorn books, the “Writing Sarek” book never to be produced without Peter, movie tour edition books, and more that can’t be accounted for. Even before taking over Peter’s career, Cochran was soliciting sales for his own book that appears never made.

[4] Peter’s lawsuit is seeking recission of contracts because they were made with fraud and to deprive him of his rights.

[5] Cochran’s home; Peter’s apartment loss involved Cochran’s control of his lease.

[6] Slight correction – Cochran’s ebook launch was October 2015, shortly before a lawsuit but when he knew it was coming. Peter had hired a fiduciary in September to manage his finances; Cochran got a crisis manager.  After lawsuit, sales promotion grew but Peter never received any money.

[7] Denied pay he is owed, Peter is relying on honest publishers such as Tachyon.

Connor: The King of Empty Promises

The downward spiral continues for Connor Cochran, abusive ex manager of Peter Beagle. His fraud is bringing strong public scrutiny. His lawyer just dumped him. Now he faces an injunction to prevent him from exploiting Peter’s name and works to enrich himself.

Cochran is abusing Peter’s name as a false front on social media and in business, and continuing to make money from his works without paying him.  Cochran has been “selling as much as he can… to raise money for one purpose only: so that he can use it to sue Peter with.”  (See here at bottom.)

In September 2015, Peter hired a professional fiduciary to handle all of his finances. Cochran was informed of duty to pay money owed to Peter and “frequently indicated an understanding” about it months before Peter was forced to sue.  This exhibit from a court document shows why a lawsuit was strongly provoked.

Funny that in September 2015, before there was any lawsuit, Cochran got a crisis manager when Peter hired a fiduciary. Guilty much?

An injunction will reduce egregious money grabbing for Cochran’s scam operation, like the Last Unicorn movie screening on 3/27/16.  Fans were misled to ask if Peter would appear, without knowing about his lawsuit against the people running the show. (A comment we linked here was deleted – they forgot this one.)

Besides ripping off and gaslighting Peter, and dealing with the strongly provoked lawsuit, Cochran is also countersuing Peter’s girlfriend. It’s a strategic smokescreen and punishment to emotionally defeat Peter, cut him off from support, and keep him under Cochran’s thumb. All of his heinous wrongdoing makes a lot of legal bills.

Cochran’s abuse is funded by exploiting you, the fans of Peter, to keep buying from Conlan Press, ebooks on Amazon, and more. And he desperately wants to stop you from knowing. Don’t let him. Please share with hashtags #LastUnicorn and #TakeBackTheUnicorn.

Coincidentally, Cochran’s Last Unicorn page on Facebook suddenly “forgot” who owns it, when repeatedly asked by fans.  His crisis manager began deleting their comments and posts wholesale. It’s a transparent ploy to dodge accountability.

And on 4/5/16, Cochran’s lawyer dumped him for abusing court process. His substitute is Richard Mooney, who previously served Cochran to take over the Last Unicorn Movie rights. His remaining support comes from closely tied cronies. If you see them spread denial, speak up with questions that destroy it.

The injunction seeks necessary relief from the corruption.  It puts force behind public awareness.  Here’s the full text.

UPDATE: This effort was put on hold during other action and went active again on 7/26/17.

The story of fraud against Peter Beagle is increasingly reaching his true fans and winning their support.  There’s high traffic on many fronts to cover in this update.

Many fans are hearing about Peter’s lawsuit for the first time, and overwhelmingly convinced by the evidence, against denial and pretense spread by his ex-manager. Their message is clear: you can’t abuse a creator and hijack fandom for greed.

“Dear fandom: another of our elder voices has received treatment as a cash cow being milked for one last harvest. He’s been exploited for his fan base, many of whom never received products they paid for…” – (Maggie)

Sharing brings awareness to stop the abuse.

Cochran is desperately trying to hide what he’s done, with crisis management and widespread deletions on social media.  He would keep his Golden Goose captive if nobody knew.  Sharing is vital to stop the abuse. Please tell fans you know and add hashtags #TakeBackTheUnicorn and #LastUnicorn.

Sharing is the mission of this site.  The story isn’t ours – it’s yours.  We want nothing more than fairness, and we’ll settle for nothing less.  Share if you feel the same.  It’s the opposite of Cochran’s mission to enrich himself with predatory greed.

Cochran continues cheating fans without delivering goods.

When Peter’s lawsuit came out, many cheated customers knew it was absolutely true because they were personally victimized. Cochran tried to deflect with glib promises yet again that goods would come “soon” after a decade-plus of false sales (while he’s really spending your money on lawyer fees.) See how easily he lied to victims:

It’s plain to see that he’ll say or do anything to get what he wants.  There’s no credibility on his side – only greedy lying.

The Last Unicorn Tour investor lawsuit destroys Cochran’s pretenses about being falsely accused.

Cochran stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his movie tour investors too.  While he attacks Peter for being old, he refuses to say anything about this other lawsuit – because he has no defense.  He can’t call them senile.  It destroys the smokescreen he’s blowing to hide his exploitation against Peter and fans.  This is the scumbag who a few cronies are rallying around in denial.

Wherever you see denial, speak up with questions that destroy it. Point out refusal to acknowledge the investor lawsuit, cheating against fans, and witness reports.

Movie tour workers come out as witnesses to Cochran’s abuse.

We previously shared a movie tour worker’s report of abuse, and here’s a new one. This report spread “like wildfire” according to author Robin Goodfellow.  She’s a life long fan (who appears in the DVD special features) – a movie tour volunteer – and a dementia nurse who refutes Cochran’s gaslighting against Beagle:

THE TRUTH ABOUT CONNOR COCHRAN & WORKING THE LAST UNICORN TOUR

One telling detail:

“The show sold out, many movie goers were turned away and Connor wheedled with the staff of the Cineplex to try to let in standing room only, and was turned down due to this being a fire hazard of which Connor complained.”

It’s a perfect illustration of what Connor Cochran stands for: Enriching himself with casual disregard for laws and safety of others, while asking others to look the other way. That’s what he does when people are watching, so think about what he does when they aren’t.  Watchdogs are urgently needed.

Fans manipulated by Cochran to twist the story, but it isn’t working.  

The more the story spreads, the more Cochran evades, deflects and deceives.  If you’ve been cheated or seen his abuse, and say so in public – you’re likely to get persistent internet and phone contact to twist the story the way he wants. His fork-tongued excuses carefully follow a rehearsed script to make him seem innocent.

Robin Goodfellow told us about his attempted phone manipulation:

“Connor Cochran is a scum bag and his magickal phone call to me was nothing more than scare tactics, even though he veiled it as wanting to get orders to people. My friends who were cheated hundreds of dollars on their orders want nothing to do with him and wish no contact with him. I find it interesting that he can’t figure out orders, but was able to find my phone number in two year old emails to the last unicorn tour from my volunteer application.

My partner had originally called this whole thing. He believes Cochran only called me to scare me, and once I hung up on him he kept calling and left that voice mail. I have no interest in hearing what he has to say and believe he is scum. I’ve worked with enough victims of elder abuse and seen enough greedy families eager to see their parents in the ground for want of financial pay off. I wish it was not so common.

Connor was saying on his phone message to me about Peter being toxic to Hollywood. Who cares? This is his legacy. His work. Not yours.”  – (Robin Goodfellow)

Here’s another illustration of what Cochran stands for.  He conveniently ignores customer pleas about missing orders for months and years, but his manipulative phone call came only 6 hours after her story went out. (Seen that before.)

“Toxic in Hollywood” defamation against Peter.

In his voice message, Cochran claimed Peter’s name is toxic with all the scandal.  But the wrongdoing all leads back to Cochran.  WHO is toxic?  Peter or the scumbag who exploited his career?  It’s another piece of an agenda to gaslight, defame and force helplessness on Peter to make Cochran the “savior” dominating his life.

More witness corroboration.

“This woman’s experience echoes mine when I saw Peter S. Beagle and Connor Cochran together. Her whole experience of the Last Unicorn screening reflects mine as well.” – (Melanie)

Literary agent says Cochran “made my skin crawl”.

“This is so heartbreaking. I met PSB on tour and he was absolutely lovely. But after meeting & sort of watching his manager, I knew something was very wrong. I contacted some mutual friends, hoping they could get through since I was still a baby agent w/little pull. I’m hoping one of them was able to help. That manager made my skin crawl.” – (Jennifer)

9 years ago…

@t3dy @ConfusedImp I met Connor, his manager, who creeped the hell out of me. The way tried to protect & control Peter. It was really weird.

— 17 Inch Corncob Hero (@Palle_Hoffstein) April 13, 2016

Evidence vs. Cochran’s manipulation and sympathy-begging.

Comments from Robin Goodfellow’s report:

“Question for Conor Cochran: If Mr. Beagle had severe memory loss issues and cognitive issues, why did you think it was a good idea to take him on film tours? Wouldn’t you want him resting comfortably at home with the finest medical care? Also, from what I hear, it’s not just the Canadian tour that is missing their merchandise–it’s people all over the world. Did everyone in the world mess up their order form?” – (beans)

“This is the part which doesn’t make sense to me as well. I could realistically, looking at the many detailed statements on both sides of this issue, believe either Mr. Beagle or Mr. Cochran to be telling the complete truth… if it were not for one simple fact.

An elderly man in frail health, who is rapidly declining both physically and mentally; who cannot track or recall with any accuracy; who is unable to make his own decisions; who needs others to do what’s best for him, even against his own strenuous beliefs and wishes…

…is in no way the *same* man who can safely be dragged from pillar to post for two years; put to work for 12-16 hour days; housed in guest rooms of fans who want to talk to him when he needs rest; expected to do an arduous job, in short, with little rest and no special medical care.

Yet Conor Cochran expects us to believe both of these things about Peter Beagle, simultaneously. I’m sorry, Mr. Cochran, but that defies reason and common sense. If Mr. Beagle were truly the sick old man who is unable to function mentally or physically without such extreme care as to require removing his agency over his own associates and financial decisions, then there would be only one ethical course to take: keeping Mr. Beagle safe at home, surrounded by family and friends and with good medical care close at hand, and refusing any and all work which required him to be on tour. physically and mentally active for long, grueling days and sleep on strange beds every night. That you chose not to do that tells me that either Mr. Beagle was not nearly as ill as you claim, or that you were not treating him and his medical needs ethically, or both.

There’s one more thing I notice about the behavior of the various parties to the dispute: Mr. Beagle supports his claim with specific evidence — financial documents, medical evaluations, etc. Mr. Cochran supports his claim with character witnesses. Character witnesses can be fooled… even over a period of years. They may believe what they’re told, or what someone sets a situation up to appear as true. Tests are much more rarely fooled, and primary source documents virtually never. I believe that most or all of the parties who signed Mr. Cochran’s public relations document earnestly believed what they wrote… doubtless including Mr. Beagle’s children. However, they would not be the first to mean well and be wrong.” – (Nora Rivkis)

“The only ethical principle which has made science possible is that the truth shall be told all the time. If we do not penalize false statements made in error, we open up the way for false statements by intention. And a false statement of fact, made deliberately, is the most serious crime a scientist can commit.” -Dorothy Sayers, _Gaudy Night_

Of course Cochran could convince some people to like him with a superficial mask of oily charm.  His life is dedicated to it.  That’s literally the definition of a con artist. “Con men have to seem nice.  It’s a necessary skill.” (More below.)

Don’t trust our expose because it’s written from between two purring baskets of rescued orphan kittens.  Notice that we’ve been sharing documents and facts about fraud since 2014, predicting the scandal for a year before Peter Beagle’s lawsuit came out and the media caught on.

Cochran tries to tighten power over Peter by proxy, manipulating his children to file for conservatorship.

It’s obviously preferable not to share private details about Peter’s life.  But since they’re already exploited in public by Cochran, it’s fair to uncover his controlling agenda.  Cochran used universal family drama that can happen to anyone to drive a wedge into Peter’s family.

While Peter was hauled from couch to couch on an elder-abusing death march of a tour, his kids weren’t present.  There were months without face to face contact while Cochran interfered with their communication.

Only one kid is blood related to Peter. There were divorces over decades. Into the relationship dynamic came Peter’s partner as an outsider. She stuck by him for 17 years when there was no money.  She would have a front row seat for Cochran’s scamming, know where his bodies are buried, and encourage Peter against being a captive golden goose. These are implications of Cochran’s “screaming ugly naked hate” for her.  Pitting people against each other would let him divide and conquer.

Readers react:

Cochran intends to force Peter into conservatorship against his will. He can dangle hope that his way is the only way to get a piece of Hollywood money that he promised for so long. But investors won’t touch Cochran now, so he can only string people along with a fake carrot. The kids must have been very upset to see the promises vanish with Cochran’s scandal. He blames Peter, and grudges can motivate as well as money. Whatever the specifics, he’s exploiting upset.

“These are the same kids that let their 70+ year-old Dad go on a hobo tour where he was expected to sleep over at strangers houses that they met online?” – (Gwen)

That’s all hinted by public sources. And here’s one more strike against the chosen conservators: Kalisa Beagle’s financial responsibility got her sued by the Bank Of America.  They won a judgement against her for $5,000 that she defaulted on and was forced to pay back. Search case CV166651 at this link.

The BEST Cochran offers is conservators who have to get sued by their own creditors, even ignoring his own history of fraud and abuse.

Last Unicorn Facebook page spreads deception. Widespread deletion of posts and comments. Conlan Press Facebook page has ENTIRE REVIEW SECTION DELETED!

Stay tuned – this is long enough for another update soon.  We have screenshots of entire posts with hundreds of shares and comments deleted.

In late March 2016, Cochran deleted the “reviews” section from his company Facebook page after a streak of 1-star reviews from customers who never got what they paid for. Here’s Google’s cache (with lonely 5-stars from his own employees), made previous to newer 1-stars.

Around April 6, The Last Unicorn Facebook page posted Cochran’s statements against Peter to 190,000 followers.  It was the official side linking right to Conlan Press. The followers gave strong dispute.  Simultaneously the page declared itself a “neutral zone” (that would not post Beagle’s side), refused to admit that Cochran owned the page (marked “official”), and suddenly forgot who did own it, while claiming to be run by “a fan.” Conveniently, that “fan” neglected to mention that he put his position as crisis manager on his professional resume.

One of many similar experiences of evasive deception:

Social media pages using Peter Beagle and his works are false fronts managed by Cochran.  Why the sudden fake coyness about management of the Facebook page?  It’s an evasive tactic anticipating an injunction against Cochran.

Peter Beagle fires back hard with injunction – and Cochran’s lawyer dumps him.

Peter’s lawyer filed for an injunction to prevent Cochran from abusing Peter’s name, using it as a false front on social media and in business, and continuing to make money from his works without paying him. Search case RG15794528.

Here’s the full text of this strongly provoked response.  Sharing Peter’s story helps, and this puts force behind public awareness.

Meanwhile Cochran was dumped by his attorney for abusing court process. He was forced to file attorney substitution on 4/5/16. His new one is Richard Mooney, who previously served Cochran to take over the Last Unicorn Movie rights. That’s the kind of partner who would never upset the apple cart.

The root of the problem.

These fans nail it:

Here’s a known fact about Cochran’s partner in ripping off Peter.  Ex-lawyer Charles Petit had a State Bar hearing where he lost his license for fraud. They explained:

“In regard to the Respondent’s continuing misrepresentations to disciplinary counsel, Dr. Jeckel said ‘it’s lying upon lying upon lying and I think it’s a sign of very serious and unique personality disorder.'”

Look at this self-satisfied piece of shit:

More inside info:

“Right now, Connor is selling as much as he can in the way of ebooks and used books to raise money for one purpose only: so that he can use it to sue Peter with. It’s ridiculous. He has a screaming ugly naked hate for Peter’s longtime partner Peggy – they’ve been together 17 or so years. He’s dragged Peter for eighteen hour days driving from one state to another, sleeping on sofas in fans’ houses rather than in an actual hotel. This is the very definition of “elder abuse” – and as the lawsuit just brought against Connor by Sandbox LLC shows, Connor had taken money from Sandbox ostensibly to finance the same movie tour during which he spent virtually no money on Peter’s comfort…  I’d suggest checking (Fans Against Fraud) if you’re interested in a long, ugly history during which Connor has consistently defrauded people, lied about it, and generally shown all the characteristics of an advanced example of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, in which he is always right, no one has more power than he does, and he must always win because he is somehow smarter or better than everyone else. I’m not sure how he’s planning on countersuing Sandbox, but I’m sure his out of control narcissism will find him something he thinks he can use.”

We’ve been sent far more material from inside this man’s personal life dating back to the 1960’s.  It shows why he achieved a reputation of “don’t work with him, don’t depend upon him, don’t trust him.”  It’s extremely unpleasant to look inside the mind of a sociopath, but this can suffice for now.

Updates to come:

• More about deception and deletion by the Last Unicorn Facebook page.
• Full text of injunction filed against Cochran.
• Cochran’s scamming led to default judgement against him, with $6,000 seized from his bank account.